Visayans

Visayan people

Kabisay-an / Mga Bisaya
A Visayan couple of noble blood, Boxer Codex, ca. 1590
Total population
33,463,654[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Visayas, large parts of Mindanao, southernmost parts of Luzon, the rest of the Philippines and overseas communities
Languages
Native Bisayan languages Also Filipino • English
Religion
Christianity: Roman Catholic, Aglipayan, Evangelicals, remaining belongs to United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Iglesia ni Cristo; Sunni Islam; Hinduism; Animism and other religions[1]
Related ethnic groups
Tausūg people, Zamboangueño people, Tagalog people, Austronesian people and other Filipinos

Visayans (Visayan: mga Bisaya; local pronunciation: [bisaˈjaʔ]) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous distinct ethnic groups, many unrelated to each other. When taken as a single group, they number around 33.5 million. The Visayans, like the Luzon Lowlanders (Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Ilocanos, etc.) were originally predominantly animist-polytheists and broadly share a maritime culture until the 16th century when Catholicism was introduced by the Spanish empire. In more inland or otherwise secluded areas, ancient animistic-polytheistic beliefs and traditions either were reinterpreted within a Roman Catholic framework or syncretized with the new religion. Visayans are generally speakers of one or more of the distinct Bisayan languages, the most widely spoken being Cebuano, followed by Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Waray-Waray.^[2]